He Who Hesitates — Ed McBain

"DON'T LOOK AT ME THAT WAY," HE SAID.
"What way?"
"As if... you're afraid of me all at once."
"Don't be silly. Why should I be afraid of you?" "You have no reason to..."
"Right," she agreed. "You could strangle me or drown me or beat me to death and nobody'd know about it for the next ten years."
"If ever", Roger said.

Roger Broome was a stranger, a small-town peddler, who had something important to tell the police. But things kept getting in his way: like, meeting-up with Clyde the park bum or Ralph the con-man; getting involved with Amelia from the drugstore or worst of all, Molly, the sleazy tramp from the bar.

Then he spotted Detective Steve Carella coming out of the 87th Precinct station. He decided to follow Carella. A desperate man who would stop at nothing to do what he had to do!